Life is Short. Have an Affair

While we were watching 'Underbelly' last night (we keep hoping that it will get better...) there was an advertisement that shocked me totally, so much so I couldn't believe what I saw. I found myself watching scenes of a couple (the woman very scantily clad in lingerie) being very intimate while the voice-over said something like, '...but this couple isn't married.' Then the voice-over continued by saying, 'Life is short. Have an affair'. It turns out that this advertisement was advertising Ashley Madison, "The World's Premier Discreet Dating Service".

I find it very frightening indeed. Have we reached a new low? I just can't get over a company advertising and encouraging so blatantly to people that they should have an affair. It's all so alluring with its anonymity and secrecy. The website holds such promise, "join free & change your life today." Your life will certainly change, alright. But, not in the way that Ashley Madison is promising. This is what they really should be saying: Life is short. Ruin your marriage. Life is short. Destroy your family. Life is short. Damage your relationships. And so forth...

Life is short. But, is this what we should be endeavoring to be doing with our lives? What we should be told is this: Life is short. Get right with God.

The VHCC Book Club

I've started up a book club at church, the VHCC Book Club. I'm really exciting about it and I hope that it will be really beneficial. I've got the blog up and running. You can check it out here.

What Has Challenged Me Today - How We Criticise Women...

I just read this blog post, "Sticks and Stones", by Dannielle Miller, and it raised some very pertinent points about how women are criticised. I'd like to share some extracts from the post that stood out to me:

"...Then I realised that the comment had drawn my attention away from the real issue: too often, when women raise their voices, they are criticised not for what they say but how they look.

Even now, in 2010, is that the currency of a woman or a girl — her looks? Is a female’s Achilles heel still her appearance? If you strike her there, do you take away her only power?

It isn’t the first time I’ve spoken out about sexual harassment or a women’s issue and been criticised not for my arguments but for the way I look. I have been helpfully informed that I seemed to have put on weight. I was sent an e-mail telling me that I couldn’t be a feminist because I have blonde hair. During the 2009 scandal involving Matthew Johns and teammates having sex with a 19-year-old girl, I wrote an article in defence of the young woman, who was being blamed and insulted in the media and on the internet. A reader commented that I was just jealous because I was wasn’t desirable enough to get a football player of my own.

...Comments that target a woman for how she looks, rather than her ideas, are designed to do one thing and one thing only: to shut her up.

Yet it only spurs me on. The same can be said for other Australian writers and commentators I spoke to who also regularly receive such criticism. When I discussed this phenomenon with Emily Maguire, author of Princesses & Porn Stars and a regular writer on gender and culture, she told me:

There’s no way you can present yourself that won’t attract criticism from the kind of people who think that criticism of a woman’s looks will hurt more than criticism of her ideas . . . It only makes me more sure that this stuff is worth speaking out about. — Emily Maguire

...Old, saggy, mutton dressed as lamb — age is a common theme to this type of criticism. Rather than seeming to gain wisdom, experience and authority — as is virtually expected of men — women are often deemed of decreasing value with each year they move beyond their 30s. We see it throughout our culture. How many good roles are there for actresses over 40? How many women newsreaders have career longevity without resorting to Botox? It is as if once women have passed a certain age, it is time for them to step off the stage. It’s no wonder that many women are angsting and trying to achieve the body of a 20-year-old — an impossible and time-wasting task. Zoe Krupka put it perfectly in a post on the website New Matilda:

How are we meant to do our work in the world and develop wisdom if we are still focused on the size of our butts? — Zoe Krupka

One would hope that the situation was improving, but in fact, it seems to be getting worse. And it is often women who use the strategy of attacking a woman’s looks. Dr Karen Brooks, social commentator and author of Consuming Innocence: Popular Culture and Our Children, told me:

I have had my appearance criticised ALL the time . . . This has been happening to me for 13 years and it’s getting worse . . . I should add that most of the negative comments are from women. — Karen Brooks

...Imagine the change we all — women and men — could make in the world if we took personal attacks out of public debate. Imagine if we all engaged in the debate, made respectful counterarguments, added our own ideas into the mix. Imagine if we all pledged to stop trying to silence one another. I have the greatest respect for the women thinkers and activists I have mentioned here. Do I agree with them on every single issue? Of course not. But I pledge to always argue my case while according them the respect they deserve. It will always be their ideas that I engage with, because ideas — not physical appearances — live on forever.

A comment I received from another woman sums it all up:

Common sense, dignity, rights, respect, responsibility — these basic human values should be blind to looks, age, gender. — Paola Yevenes"

Reflections of Week 42

Things have changed quite a bit in the last week. Remember how I said previously that Jack wasn't really getting all the adventurous with his crawling? Well, that has completely gone out the window! He is getting VERY adventurous and he liked to explore. He's also pulling himself up onto EVERYTHING. So, nothing's safe now (all the well-seasoned parents can laugh at me now!). We're constantly having to move things out of his reach. He's also been sick this week, too, which has made it a harder week than usual.

Crawling
Like I said, he's going everywhere and getting into everything. Things have definitely changed. When I feed him in the mornings in bed, he no longer sits and plays with me. Once his feed is over (he sits up by himself when he's had enough or when he wants to have a look around) he spots Dave's bedside table and he's off, crawling over to it. I put up some pillows in front of the bedside table, but he's worked out how to crawl over them. I pull him back and then he whinges. This goes on for a while before I decide it's time to get up. So, gone are the lovely ly-ins with Jack.

Jack is often on the move. We used to put him on his play mat and he'd sit there and play for ages. Now, he's barely there for a couple of minutes (no matter how many fantastic toys he has) before he's crawling towards the coffee table or the speakers (and, yes, they're still on the floor!). While I've been writing this post, I've already had to put him back on his mat from playing with the speakers several times. He's now sitting on his play mat playing with his books. Not sure how long that will last!

Standing
He's gotten really good at pulling himself up on things now. He's doing all the time and with such ease (it's happened so quickly!). He hasn't quite worked out how to get down after he's standing, but he's getting there. He stood by himself for about two seconds yesterday. That was a bit of a surprise, for both Jack and myself.

Sleeping
Jack's day naps have settled back down. His morning naps are short, but he'll have a longer nap in the afternoon (if we're at home). His night sleeping has been slightly unsettled as he's been sick, but it's not been too bad.

Wake Time
Nothing's changed.

Playing
I think that I need to be playing with him more now. Seeing that he's crawling around so much, I suspect that I should spend more time interacting with him, rather than expecting him to entertain himself so much. It's good for him to play by himself, but I think I need to play him him more as well.

Eating
Still going really well. Being sick, he lost his appetite a bit, but he is eating better today.

Discipline
This has become harder. It seems like he doesn't listen to us at all when we say 'no'. When he's playing with the speakers, I say 'no' and he looks at me, but keeps doing it. I go over and pull his hands away and say 'no' again and then he just giggles. Very annoying, but to be expected, I guess.

Routine
Here's what our days are looking like at the moment:

7:00am - Wake, feed, solids, play
9.00/9.30am - Nap
10.30/11.00am - Wake, solids, play
12.00pm - Feed
1.00pm - Nap
3.00pm - Wake, solids, play
5.00pm - Feed, play
6.00pm - Dinner with family
6.30pm - Bath and stories
7.00pm - Bed

The HICCUPotamus - Cracks Jack Up

Jack was given a new book by his Aunty Helen called "The HICCUPotamus". I think it's a really fun book to read to children. The concept is quite humourous - a hiccuping hippopotamus. It has colourful and expressive images to connect to the clever and creative text. The text is full of entertaining wordplay, which makes the book a joy to read. The opening pages start like this:

"Hic!
Hic!
There was a hippopotamus
Who hiccupped quite-a-lotamus.
And every time he got'emus...
He'd fall upon his bottomus..."

Doesn't that sound like fun? Well, Jack certainly thinks so. Dave says to Jack, "Hic! Hic! Hiccupotamus!" and Jack bursts out laughing. Here's what I mean:

What Has Challenged Me Today...

I just read this blog post about Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) wanting his portable computer devices to NOT sell or stock pomography. I find it encouraging that there are some people (wealthy and influential) who have made a conscious decision to uphold morality over wealth. This is really interesting. I challenge you to read this post by Tim Chester.

Reflections of Weeks 40-41

Things have been going well. Jack has been happy and content over the last couple of weeks. He has been loving his new found freedom in his crawling and he seems to have so much energy.

Crawling
This is going really well. Jack is really good at crawling now and he can move quite quickly now. Unfortunately, he has become a lot more aware of the world around him and he now loves to explore on a whole new level. He is a lot more determined to get to things now. He loves crawling to the coffee table, the DVD player and speakers (we really need to get them off the floor!), the heater, under the dining table and the bathroom. He plays on his mat for a bit and then he's off, crawling around the living room. He really enjoys following a ball around the living room. He enthusiastically chases it around (lucky for him or lounge room floor has a slope, so the ball always moves on its own accord ;-)).

Standing
Jack's been pretty good with getting on his knees to reach things. He does this so easily now. Recently he has worked out how to pull up onto his feet. He figure out how to do it while he was in the bath and now he loves to do it in the bath all the time (as well as crawling around in the bath). It was very exciting to see, but we didn't necessarily want to encourage it! He has also just started to stand up in his cot, but he doesn't always do it.













Sleeping
Jack's night sleeping is still going well - nothing's really changed there. But, his day naps have changed in the last week. In the mornings he's been taking about half an hour or more to get to sleep. He plays quite happily and energetically in his cot and I have to go in every now and then to lie him back down again. He is often kneeling or standing up and whacking his hands up and down on the cot or the wall. Or, he's sitting down with his legs between the cot slats, swinging them about. I often find his socks on the floor and they're usually wet (he likes to suck on them). Eventually he goes to sleep, but he hasn't been sleeping for very long. Yesterday he slept for 20 minutes and today he slept for 30 minutes. I've tried keeping him up for longer but it hasn't made much of a difference. I'm wondering if he is going to drop this nap soon. But, surely it's too early? I'm going to monitor it more closely this week and see if keeping him up longer works or if I should just keep persisting with the 9am nap. His afternoon naps are better and he has been sleeping longer, but he still likes to play around before he goes to sleep.

Wake Time
Nothing much has changed...I'm not too sure how long I should be keeping him up. I try to keep his afternoon nap time consistent, so usually if he wakes up at 10am or later, I put him down again at 1pm. This morning he was awake at 9.30am and he managed really well being awake until 1pm.

Playing
I've noticed that Jack (and his other baby friends) are at an age now where they need more interactive toys. There are a couple of favourite toys at mothers group to which the babies seem to gravitate. They are the play centre type toys where things move and make music. We have borrowed a toy from my friend Sam, which has been great as it can be expensive having to buy toys all the time and we don't have the space for lots of toys. Jack really enjoys playing with it as well as some interactive stacker blocks that his grandparents bought him. I'm going to investigate the toy library this week.















Solids
Jack is eating really well. He is a great eater and he'll eat pretty much anything. I gave him half a juiced lemon the other day. I was expecting him to make a face and not like it, but he didn't; he happily sucked on it and he rather enjoyed it. I made a chicken tagine with cayenne pepper in it. It was too hot for Jack. He kept opening his mouth so we thought he was enjoying it, until his crying got worse. Poor thing.

I'm still feeding him 3 times a day, although there have been a couple of days where I've forgotten to give him his midday feed. Some days he's not too fussed about having a breastfeed and other days he really wants it.

He's drinking from a cup pretty well now. He still gets all wet down his front, but I think he's doing a good job of drinking. I try to give him water with each meal. He enjoys drinking his water, which is great. I gave up giving him the sippy cups as he was pretty hopeless at using them and I could never work out how much water he was actually drinking. We have one sippy cup that he can hold himself (seen in the photo above), but I think he spends most of his time chewing on the end rather than drinking the water. When I give it to him to use by himself he ends up getting drenched.

Discipline
This is getting hard. He's moving around so much and touching things he's not supposed to. It gets a bit draining after a while. Sometimes he listens when we say 'no' and stops what he's doing, but sometimes he completely ignores what we're saying. But that's alright, we just have to keep persisting and being consistent.

Babysitting
This is still going well. Jack is really good with other people. He doesn't seem phased by being with others. His Grandmother, Noelene, looked after him Yesterday while I played netball (we lost). We had to go out to a BBQ that night and we were planning taking Jack with us, but after Dave's father offered to look after Jack, we decided to leave him with them. He was with them anyway and he seemed so happy. So, on the way to the BBQ we dropped in so I could feed him and then we were on our way.

Routine
Here's what our days are looking like at the moment:

7:00am - Wake, feed, solids, play
9.00/9.30am - Nap
10.30/11.00am - Wake, solids, play
12.00pm - Feed
1.00pm - Nap
3.00pm - Wake, solids, play
5.00pm - Feed, play
6.00pm - Dinner with family
6.30pm - Bath and stories
7.00pm - Bed

What Has Encouraged Me Today - Be Content

Be content. Most of the time this is easier said than done. It is particularly hard to be content when we're constantly encouraged not to be content. I read this verse last night and I find encouragement in these words:

I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Phillipians 4:12

Doesn't that sound wonderful - "the secret of being content"? Well, what is the secret of being content? I will have to think more about this...but for now, I think that it's having God's perspective and realising that EVERYTHING we have comes from God. We need to be thankful for what he has given us. It's helpful, then, to focus on the good things; what we have instead of what we don't have. Let's get into the habit of telling God daily what we're thankful for.

What Has Challenged Me Today...

I found this blog post by Sarie King really interesting and challenging. I encourage you to read it.

Why was it challenging? I was struck by how pertinent it is for us to teach girls and young women that the way they conduct themselves in a relationship does matter. They need to have older women model Christ-like behaviour to them. They need to have demonstrated to them an alternate way to live. But, how do we do this?

I was shocked to read that there are some young women who are auctioning off their virginity to the highest bidder. Why have women changed their attitude and views of their bodies and sexuality so dramatically?

I was brought up in a Christian family and I was taught that you should wait until AFTER marriage to have sex. I was taught that sex between a husband and a wife was SPECIAL and unique, something that the two of you shared together. So, I waited until I was married and I have only ever had one sexual partner. My sexuality is not up for grabs and it isn't a commodity. It is something that I lovingly give to my husband and no one else. I guess that I am in the minority when it comes to this. But, this should not be so.

We should be modeling and teaching the following:
"As I follow Christ, I’m to know that my body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord (1Cor 6:14), not only must I refrain from committing sexual immorality, nor is there to be any hint of it (1Cor 10:8, Eph 5:3). Rather, I must seek to honour HIM in all I think, in all I say, and all I do, to be a woman who is “reverent and worthy of respect” (Titus 2:2)." Sarie King (May 19, 2010).

What Has Encouraged Me Today...

I read a blog post this morning, "Busyness, Burnout and the Grace of God (4) Identity", and some comments that Jean made really struck me:

• "My significance doesn't come from what I do, or even what God does through me. My significance comes from the fact that I'm a child of God."
• "But life isn't about my renown: it's about making God's name known."
• "The world tells me that work defines my identity. It tells me that I'm nothing if I'm not using my degree, using my skills, and pursuing a career, preferably one which fulfills and energises me. But God tells me to use all my energies to love and serve others. I find myself in him, not in my work."
• "I can be faithful to God in the situation he's put me in, serve the people he's given me to love, and trust him to help them grow in his own timing and his own way."

This has challenged me to reconsider how I view my life. It has given me perspective. I need to be more content in my circumstances and remember to praise God for all that he has done for me. I need to remember to do all things that will please him and glorify his name.

Jack's Learning Quickly

Dave was showing Jack how to use one of his toys (handed down from his cousins) today. Dave showed Jack how to do it a couple of times and then Jack grabbed a car and did it himself. We were surprised at how quickly he was able to copy Dave and know what to do.



He soon grew tired of doing that and decided that sucking on the cars was a lot more fun!

Being Outdoors

One thing I've noticed with Jack is that he LOVES being outside. It has a real calming affect on him. He can be really unsettled and whingey inside, but as soon as he's outside, sitting on some grass and playing with some leaves, he calms right down and is very content.

Jack enjoys crawling around and finding grass, leaves, sticks, insects or bark to stick in his mouth. Everything goes on his mouth!

He particularly likes to put leaves in his mouth.

He could do this for hours.

Did I mention that he likes leaves?

...he's also a fan of grass!

(we really need to do something about his hair!)

Jack Goes Exploring

With the joys of seeing Jack develop and start to crawl comes the challenge of keeping up with his exploring. I try to encourage Jack to play on his mat, but it's not long before he's off crawling somewhere.

Jack will often head to the coffee table where there are fun things to play with - things that we don't want him to touch!He's found some books which are one of his favourite things to play with.

Once he's finished playing with the books, he'll try to get whatever is on the coffee table, which inevitably is the remote controls
But, he's not allowed to play with those, so we usually give him something else that he can play with.

It's just out of his reach...

which he doesn't like one bit.

Mummy helps him out...

which makes him one little happy chappy.

Jack is 9 Months!

I can't believe it. Jack is 9 months. What a great 9 months it has been.

Jack's New Skill

Here's a clip of Jack's new skill: shaking his head. I think he looks adorable doing it.

Reflections of Week 39

This week has been a great week. Things have seemed more settled and Jack has been really fun. Jack has learnt a few new skills. He deliberately coughs to be funny (he's always put one a cough, but it's only been recently that he seems to do it to make us laugh) and sometimes he'll do it on cue. He claps (but only when he wants to) and he shakes his head, which is VERY cute.

Crawling
Jack's crawling is coming along well. He is a little bit more adventurous now, but he doesn't seem to want to get into everything (yet!). But he does like to explore. He loves going under the dining table and into the bathroom (to get to the bin!). I'm thankful that he hasn't discovered the heater or the DVD player that's sitting on the floor (we're yet to do something about that. It's on our "to do" list).

Jack's moving with a lot more co-ordination (fewer floor face-plants) and speed. He also moves into a crawling/sitting/crawling position really easily now. Jack likes to do the "tripod", where he moves from his hands and knees to his is hands and feet. Not really sure why he does it, but he's very fascinated with it, especially balancing on his head to look through his legs.

As well as this, Jack gets up on his knees from a crawling or sitting position. A few times now, he's been on his knees, holding on to the edge of his cot, when he's woken up from his nap. He's just started to do it before his nap.


Sleeping














Things are going along well in this department. He's sleeping from 7pm to 6.30am. He seems to be stuck at the 6.30am mark, but there's nothing I can do about it. He's good at playing in his cot until I come and get him. His naps are going really well, too. He seems to be so much more consistent with his naps now. A couple times he's slept for 3 hours in the afternoon, which has been great (I got to catch up on my TV viewing in one afternoon). There were a few times this week where his naps have been short. This seems to be mainly due to him sleeping in a different environment or due to somebody else looking after him (other than me). We'll keep working on that. He doesn't seem to sleep very well in his pram anymore. I think it's mainly due to the fact that he doesn't do it very often.

Wake Time
Pretty much the same. Jack seems to be staying up longer in the morning. He definitely handles being up longer than he used to. We definitely need to get a play pen and some toys that are more age-appropriate.



Solids
I dropped a feed this week. It sort of evolved. I was thinking about it and I noticed that there was one feed during the day where Jack wasn't drinking much. So, one day I decided to drop a feed and see what happened. It all went well. Jack adjusted to the change and so now we've stuck with it. After his morning nap we give Jack some solids and then at 12pm I'll feed him. We do the same thing after his afternoon nap. I try to hold off to about 5pm to feed him. It's a bit tricky at that time of the day as he just seems to want to eat all afternoon. So, for solids, Jack has breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner.

Discipline
Jack does know 'no' as he stops what he's doing when he hears us say it. Sometimes he'll stop completely and other times he'll go back and do it again. It depends on how much he wants to keep doing what he's doing (like playing with the bin in the bathroom. Saying 'no' doesn't work at all. Very hard when I'm in the shower!!).

Babysitting
This has been fantastic!! We are so lucky to have two sets of grandparents close-by. I've been fully exploiting this factor :-). Granny looked after Jack for two afternoons this week while I painted our back door. Since I dropped a feed it has been so much easier to have someone look after Jack. I can drop him off at 12.30pm and I won't need to see him again until 5pm. But I do miss him. Though, it's been good for Jack to spend more time with his grandparents, too.

Routine
Here's what our days are looking like at the moment:

7:00am - Wake, feed, solids, play
9.00/9.30am - Nap
10.30/11.00am - Wake, solids, play
12.00pm - Feed
1.00pm - Nap
3.00pm - Wake, solids, play
5.00pm - Feed, play
6.00pm - Dinner with family
6.30pm - Bath and stories
7.00pm - Bed

Reflections of Weeks 34-38

Jack is a real delight. I love him so much and I really enjoy spending my days with him. A lot has happened in these last few weeks, but the most exciting thing of all is that Jack started to crawl!! He's babbling more and more. He now says, "babba", "mumma", "dadda" and "gurggle". He seems to babble in a conversational sort of way, which is very cute.

Crawling
Jack's been crawling for 2 weeks now. At the beginning of April he was able to get up on his knees and rock back and forth, but he didn't really know what to do with his hands. He was also pushing himself backwards, getting further and further away from what he wanted. After a week of getting up on his knees, he started to move his hands. He'd take a few steps at first, then he'd do more and more each day. Now he can crawl from one end of the house to the other. When he's hungry he'll crawl to me and follow me around. The other night when Dave came home from work Jack was really excited to see him. Dave went to have a shower and Jack crawled to the bathroom and sat outside the door. It's interesting to see that he's now made the connection that he can move to get to what he wants. He has pulled himself up once.

So far (holding my breath!), Jack hasn't been too adventurous with his crawling. He's not been too interested in getting in to things. He just discovered the bookshelf, so it will be interesting to see how that goes.

The only problem we've been having is that he's been putting anything and everything in his mouth. Whatever he finds on the floor/ground, he'll put in his mouth. I got a big surprise the other day when I retrieved a brown, furry caterpillar from his mouth. It gave me such a shock that I flung it across the room. I suspected that he had something in his mouth, but I didn't think for one minute it would be a caterpillar! He was in the lounge room, so that was the last thing I was expected to pull out of his mouth.


Sleeping
Jack's sleeping has been going really well, once we got over that rough patch. He's generally been sleeping solidly at night. Before daylight savings changed he was sleeping to 7am, but now I'm lucky if he sleeps to 6.30am. I leave him in his cot until 7am. I'm hoping that he'll gradually get back to 7am. Occasionally he's been waking up and crying at night. I've had to go in and settle him a few times. Sometimes he's woken up because he's sick, other times I'm not sure why, but he gets pretty upset.

Jack's down to 2 naps now. In the morning he'll sleep for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours and in the afternoon he'll sleep for 1 hour to 2 1/2 hours. Every now and then his naps are short, but usually they're a pretty good length.

Waketime
Nothing really has changed here. He's usually awake for 2 hours, although he can handle being awake for 2 1/2 hours, depending on what happens. When he's ready for a nap, he'll snuggle his head on to my chest, under my chin, and suck his thumb.

Solids
Jack's eating has been going so well. He'll pretty much eat anything. He has definitely made the connection between hunger and food. Not long after his breastfeed he's ready for some solids. He's having four regular meals a day. From about 3pm to dinner time he seems to want to eat more. He gets really whingey between his last feed and dinner. It gets really hectic when I'm trying to make dinner and he's crawling over to me wanting food. Sometimes I put him in his high chair with a finger food so that I can get some space to get dinner finished. It's not too bad when Dave's home to entertain him, but it gets quite tricky when I'm on my own.

I suspect that he's less breast milk now. His feeds are shorter and he doesn't seem to be having as much. I'm going to try to drop a feed soon. I think I'll start to offer him solids before his feeds soon, too.

Discilpine
This has been tricky! We've been trying to teach Jack 'no'. A couple of weeks ago, this was proving to be futile (as seen when he was eating our basil plant). He just didn't understand. But, over the last couple of days, he has been listening at times when we've said 'no' to him. If he's going to touch something we don't want him to touch we say, 'Jack, no'. He stops. But then he'll go for it again :-) We'll say, 'Jack, no' again and he'll stop. But he'll try to touch it again. This usually goes on for a bit, until he gets bored and moves on to something else. I try to give him some positive reinforcement when he does listen and stops what he's doing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I am surprised that it has worked at all.

Babysitting
Over the last few weeks, Jack's been getting looked after more often. It seems much easier to do this now. On Friday afternoon I had to go to a funeral and on Saturday afternoon I played netball. Noelene (Dave's mum), came over while Jack was asleep to look after him for both days. When he woke up Noelene just gave him solids (I'm not bothering with the bottle as he's never been interested in it and rarely drinks much, so I don't see the point). Then Jack and Noelene had a lovely time playing, reading, or going for a walk, until I got home. When I got home I gave Jack a breast feed. I'm so glad that he has been really good for other people - he really is a happy and content baby, a real answer to prayer.

Routine
Nothing much has changed with his routine. I'm trying to make his feed times more consistent so that they're at the same time each day. He's better at waiting for a feed now. He doesn't seem to need a feed straight after he's woken up.

Here's what our days are looking like at the moment:

7:00am - Wake, feed, solids, play
9.00am - Nap
10.30/11.00am - Wake, feed, solids, play
1.00pm - Nap
2.30pm /3.00pm - Wake, feed, solids, play
5.00pm - Feed, play
6.00pm - Dinner with family
6.30pm - Bath and stories
7.00pm - Bed